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Five decades after the U.S.S.R.'s Luna 2 moon probe became the first spacecraft to land on another celestial body, we look at the past accomplishments and tantalizing future of unmanned space exploration
September 1, 2009 |
Features
The twin Voyagers set the pace for planetary exploration. And although the technology on new probes far surpasses theirs, no spacecraft has yet explored more of the solar system and its interstellar environs
Features
A tagalong to the Russian sample-return mission makes some researchers uncomfortable
Features
NASA is planning to send an orbiter to Europa as part of an international fleet of probes slated to explore Jupiter's environs that may even include a landing on the intriguing moon
Features
Some are already on their way and some are still in the works, but here is what we may see from unmanned exploration of space in the coming years
The indefatigable Opportunity rover, still motoring across the Red Planet five years into its mission, recently came across what may be a large meteorite sitting on the Martian surface
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) unveiled their joint plans for exploring the outer planets, choosing to head to Jupiter and four of its moons before further exploring the moons of Saturn
Surface-penetrating radar reveals features composed of ice, not rock
The LCROSS spacecraft, launching next week, will impact the moon to see what flies up
When NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers touched down on Mars, they were each tapped for three-month missions exploring the Red Planet--but five years later, both are still moving
NASA has confirmed that chunks of soil that vaporized on Mars after NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander dug them up really were water ice
Astronomers using one of the world's largest telescopes captured the brilliant explosion as the Kaguya spacecraft slammed into the Moon
A NASA probe that ferried material from a comet to Earth appears to have brought back an amino acid from that encounter, bolstering a theory that life's precursors may have arrived on our planet from outer space
Recent images from the Cassini spacecraft point to a moonlet embedded in one of Saturn's outer rings
A team of researchers analyzing images and data gathered by the now-defunct Phoenix spacecraft believes that the lander spotted liquid water on Mars, but even within the Phoenix science team, not everyone is convinced
We look at the state of the rovers currently on Mars, the big accidental discovery by the Spirit rover, and the next-generation device slated to join them in 2010, the Mars Science Laboratory Rover. Interviews with Cornell's Melissa Rice, the payload downlink lead for the rover cameras, and the Jet Propulsion Lab's Michelle Viotti, about the Mars Science Laboratory Rover. Also press conference clips featuring Cornell's Steve Squyres, principal investigator for the science instruments on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, and Harvard's Andrew Knoll, a biologist with the Mars missions
In this episode Cornell University astronomer Jim Bell talks about future space missions and why people need to be part of them. Bell is the leader of the team operating the color cameras on the Mars rovers, and the author of the book Postcards From Mars and of an opinion piece in the August issue of Scientific American on humans in space
Wrinkled landscapes and spouting jets on Saturn's sixth-largest moon hint at underground waters
Whether peering into deep space or checking on human activity, spacecraft and satellites from days gone by are still on the job
The Indian Space Research Organization lost radio contact this weekend with its first moon probe, Chandrayaan-1, and the mission came to an abrupt end after communications could not be reestablished
Whether peering into deep space or checking on human activity, spacecraft and satellites from days gone by are still on the job
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